MRS. BUSH: Good morning, everybody. This is the 42nd year that the
National Christmas Tree Growers have given the White House a tree. And
we're so thrilled that this beautiful tree and huge Fraser fir behind me
-- you can see how big it is -- is from Mistletoe Farm in North
Carolina, from Joe Freeman and Linda Jones are the growers of it, and
it's a 19-year-old tree that he's been growing there at the farms for
the last 19 years.

And so we're all thrilled that it's going to be here in the Blue Room.
As you all know, we have to remove the chandelier from the Blue Room
because the tree is so big. And the decorators are all inside right
now, the florists who come from around the country to decorate every
year at the White House. And so they'll be ready to set the tree up as
soon as it gets moved in and to start decorating the tree.

And you all will hear more about the decorations later this week when
you come back for the preview. But I will tell you that the tree will
be decorated with about 300 -- a little over 300 ornaments from around
the country. Over 300 artists have decorated these ornaments, and so
you'll see them when you're here later this week for the Christmas
preview.

But now I especially want to thank Linda. Thank you so much, Linda. I
appreciate it a lot. And thank you, Joe, and congratulations on being
picked by the National Christmas Tree Growers. And Beth, who's from the
National Christmas Tree Grower's Association, happens to be a Texan. We
knew her when George was governor and we would receive the tree then for
the Texas Governor's Mansion in the Texas capital. So thank you very
much also, Beth.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas, everybody. This is the first day of the
season, the day after the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. And this is
certainly the day we start around here.